FalconEye Review 31: Mario Party 8
Alright, with my last review, I was sort of.... harsh. So, here's a game that I had a lot more fun with, it's Mario Party 8 for the Nintendo Wii. Gameplay Alright, if you've played any other Mario Party game, which I haven't, you'll have a general idea of what you do. Basically, you play as a Mario character and travel across a game board competing against other Mario characters, usually by collecting stars or coins. There are several types of spaces on the board. There are blue spaces, which give you three coins, red spaces take away three coins. Orange exclamation mark spaces transport you to a single player minigame where you can win coins, candy, or other goodies to help you along the game. The yellow spaces transport you to a minigame where every player plays. Green question mark spaces have you interacting with a person/prop on the gameboard, which will either help or hinder you. Then there's the DK spaces. When you land on one of these, Donkey Kong will appear and do something to help you, whether it be giving you coins or candy or whatever. However, when someone lands on a DK space, all the DK spaces turn to Bowser spaces. If you land on a Bowser space, he will do something that will harm you. There are six different gameboards you can play on in party mode, each with there own gimmicks. King Boo's Haunted Hideaway: On this board, you travel through a haunted house trying to find King Boo so you can trade coins for stars. Depending on what mode you're in, every time someone finds King Boo, everyone will be teleported out and the gameboard will be completely rearranged. This only happens in one mode however, if you're in one of the other two modes, the labyrinth will always remain the same. Shy Guy's Perplex Express: ALL ABOARD!!!!!!! On this level, depending on what mode you're in, you either have to race to the front of the train buying stars until the timer runs out, or collecting fifty coins and buying a star from a koopa celebrity. This game board is complete with moving train cars and hidden surprises. DK's Treetop Temple: Here's a more traditional gameboard. You either move around the board collecting stars, or if you're in Star Battle Mode, collecting 40 coins total and buying two stars. This board has fierce pirahna plants, Donkey Kong Barrells, and even a waterfall you can ride down. Goomba's Booty Boardwalk: If you're in normal mode, you travel to the end of the boardwalk and Captain Goomba will give you a star. If you're in Star Battle mode, you have to collect 50 coins and reach the end of the boardwalk and buy a star from Captain Goomba. If you don't have enough coins, he'll load you in a cannon and launch you back the begining of the board. This board's complete with dolphin rides, hula dancers from Mario Sunshine, and treasure galore!!! Koopa's Tycoon Town: This is probably my favorite board in the entire game! Why? You get to become business men. In this board, you have to invest coins in hotels to get stars. Think of it like Mario's twist on Monopoly. Whoever gets the desired ammount, or has the most at the end of the game wins! Whoever has the most coins invested in a hotel gets the ammount of stars the hotel has. The hotel will also level up depending on how many coins it has invested in it. At 20 coins, it will level up to a two star hotel, and you will get two stars instead of one. At around 50 coins, it will turn into a three star hotel. As far as I know though, three stars is as high as it goes. Bowser's Warped Orbit: This one you can only unlock after beating the Star Battle Arena. Now, before I explain this board, I need to explain the candy. Throughout the board, you'll either win or buy candy. You can then use this candy to aid you, whether it be by affecting the number of spaces you use, stealing coins from opponents, or teleporting. In Bowser's Warped Orbit, you start out with a certain number of stars. You then have to steal stars from an opponent by eating either a Bowser or a Bullet Bill candy. Bowser Candies will steal three stars from an opponent if you touch them, but you can't move that many spaces with it. With a Bullet Bill candy, you can travel so far you're almost garunteed to hit someone, but they only get you one star. You can play as many different characters. Here's a full list. Mario Luigi Wario Waluigi Peach Daisy Toad Toadette Boo Dry Bones Yoshi Birdo Hammer Bro (unlockable) Blooper (unlockable) In addition to the party tent, there's also the minigame tent, where you play minigames against a CPU or friends, the Bazaar, where you buy trophies or other unlockables with the tickets you win in Party Mode, and then theres the Star Battle Arena, and that's where we get to the... Plot ....Alright, this game doesn't really have a plot, it's a party game, but this is as close as it gets. Basically, you choose a character. You're in a competition for a years supply of candy. Basically, yougo through the five boards, playing against one player, beating them, and moving on to the next one.After you beat Koopa's Tycoon town, you are proclaimed the winner and your true prize is revealed, the legendary Star Rod. You reach out your hand to claim your prize when su-- "WAIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Bowser!!!!!? What are you doing here!!!!!? I... whatever. Basically, Bowser says screw you (put-favorite-character's-name-here), I'm better than you, you don't deserve that Star Rod, I'm gonna take it. Well, how rude. So, you chase after him, landing on Bowser's Warped Orbit. Bowser says he wants to test you, and he sends either Hammer Bro or Blooper to face you on Bowser's gameboard. After you beat him, Bowser gives up the star rod, but immediately regrets it and flies away in his clown car. (Put-favorite-character's-name-here) flies after him and you go up against Bowser in one final minigame that is impossible to lose because you can just continue where you left off after you die. With one final blow, Bowser falls into a black hole, blows up, and you go back to earth to claim your year's supply of candy. The End. Good Aspects Alright, I like this game. I think it's a good family game, we like to pull it out at get togethors, ect. The graphics for this game are pretty good overall. I think it's one of the better looking wii games. I think the gimmicks work well, a majority of the minigames are pretty entertaining, and if you're planning on having a family get togethor and a few of you wanna play some video games, but some have little to no experience with gaming, pick this game up, it's a simple game that's fun for all ages and genders. Bad Aspects The only major complaint I have with this game is the music. It's all very generic carnival music that isn't memorable at all. There's only two or three themes I actually like. Other than that, nothing worth mentioning. Conclusion I'm starting to notice that my reviews are getting longer. I really like this game. It's a great game for the whole family and I think that it's great for get togethors with friends or family. I'll give it a 7.5/10 with the title of GREAT!!!!